Village Voice Review

Thursday, December 03, 2009

Ken Gerhard, Monster Hunter.

Beasts! Book Two contains an interview with an honest-to-God monster hunter, Ken Gerhard, who packed up for rural France to search for werewolves for the History Channel special The Real Wolfman. The other day Ken sent a note about the Sasquatch sighting he's been exploring just ten miles from his home in San Antonio, Texas: "Police on the west side of San Antonio received a 911 call from multiple eyewitnesses who claimed that they saw a hairy hominid standing over six feet tall, run out of the woods and kill a deer."

Check out his blog for the rest of the developing Sasquatch story and more on his exploits with werewolves.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Chinese Beasts!

I can hardly believe it happened but the world now has "Taiwan's Traditional Chinese Edition" of BEASTS! Book One. Remarkably, this is the first Fantagraphics book ever translated into Chinese and I couldn't be happier that the publisher included Beasts! in the small roster of books that makes up their debut "Graphic Novelty" line. (Iconic works "Jimmy Corrigan" and "Blankets" are among them.) It's a privilege to have the book translated for a wider audience and they really did a wonderful job on the repackaging. It feels more like an exhibition catalog than a coffee table book but that works for this material.

Update for November '09

Life has not been conducive to maintaining this blog but now that I remember my log-in info perhaps I can get some things up here again from time to time. Thanks to anyone still stopping by, and to the "followers" of this site.

At this point the first volume of BEASTS! is in its fourth printing and the second volume is in its second printing. You'll know if you have a first edition by the silver page ends. We had to rush the second printing out and forego the silkscreened page ends. It remains to be seen if the economy can hold up a paperback edition of Book Two.

Meanwhile, there is now a Chinese edition of BEASTS! Book One which will be posted about... later.

Lastly, anyone who has longed for one of the remaining copies of the "10 BEASTS!" letterpress print set from Tiny Showcase, they have a holiday sale going right now. The set is available at half price. A steal!

Friday, February 13, 2009

Tomorrow is for Love, Tonight is for Beasts!

This post comes very late but at 8pm TONIGHT in LOS ANGELES:

In what should be the final Beasts-related event (I'm tired), the classy joint that is the Secret Headquarters comic shop is hosting a huge bunch of artists kindly marking up books of whatever sort you put in front of them. This is the only joint signing for Beasts Books One & Two and a remarkable line-up of confirmed artists. Well worth a visit to the shop if you're anywhere near LA. And who knows, maybe even Richard Sala will surprise us and show up. Anything could happen on Friday the 13th.

Also note: SHQ has on hand literally the very last available copies of the first edition of Beasts Book Two from our distributor's warehouse; Tessar Lo will be there. Derek Albeck can not make it; SHQ have a new record store opening up nearby. Ask them about it!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

BEASTS! TONIGHT in San Francisco!

Even I still haven't seen everything that will be in the show but Luke Martinez at GRSF has been frantically getting the crazy number of pieces together for tonight's big opening. If you're in the area, head down to Giant Robot to see (and buy) new work like this piece by Maxwell Loren Holyoke-Hirsch.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Matt Hawkins Auto-Basilisk

Above is a video from Matt Hawkins' Flickr page. This is his enormous, tongue-flicking paper toy version of the Basilisk which will be available at the Giant Robot San Francisco show. This toy is based on his 2d contribution to Book Two. In April, Chronicle Books is publishing a book that Matt edited on paper toys, including work from numerous contemporary paper toy makers.